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Thomas Gainsborough’s portrait of Giovanna Baccelli is one of very few images in colour of a dancer in costume from the eighteenth century. Baccelli rose to be an accomplished and popular principal dancer at the London opera house in the 1770s and 80s. However, her legacy in the form of this painting, is due to her association with the Duke of Dorset, who commissioned one of the great portrait artists of his day to paint his lover. The image gives us an important record of a stage performer in costume from this period. However, opinions vary as to which production this costume was for and the details of individual items. Baccelli’s ‘apron’ or ‘shawl’ has always been of particular interest as it is a dominant feature in the composition. This paper will use the latest research to examine the costume by unpicking it part by part. Using other well-known engravings and fashion illustrations as a comparison, it will place this visual impression within its context. Using this evidence, it will ask if it possible to define what proportion of her dress can be seen as representing her costume on the stage?

Joanna Jarvis is currently working on research into the public lives of actresses on the Georgian stage, their social status and the psychology behind the active fashion exchange between performers and society. Her research focusses on visual records, representations of actresses in in paint and print. Her doctoral thesis examined the relationship between costume for dance on the stage, the women in the audience, and fashionable dress, in the late eighteenth century.